Moshe Arens
Moshe Arens | |
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משה ארנס | |
Ambassador to the United States | |
Personal details | |
Born | Kaunas, Lithuania | 27 December 1925
Died | 7 January 2019 Savyon, Israel | (aged 93)
Signature | |
Moshe Arens (
Early life and education
Arens was born in
Arens was a leader in the Betar youth movement, and during World War II served in the United States Army Corps of Engineers as a technical sergeant. Following the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948, Arens emigrated to Israel and joined the militant group Irgun.
In 1951, he returned to the United States, and studied engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and aeronautical engineering at the California Institute of Technology, where he was a student of Qian Xuesen. He then worked for a time in the aircraft industry.[3][4][5][6]
Academic and research career
In 1957, Arens became professor of aeronautics at the Technion, serving in this position until 1962. After retiring from the government, he devoted himself to researching and commemorating the story of the Jewish Military Union (ŻZW), which fought alongside the better known Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB) in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Arens has written several articles and a book, Flags over the Warsaw Ghetto, on the revolt. The book has been published in Hebrew, Polish, and English.[7]
Arens was chairman of the International Board of Governors of
Political career
After the Yom Kippur War, Arens entered politics and was elected to the Knesset as a member of Likud in the 1973 elections. After being re-elected in 1977, he became chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He voted against the Camp David Accords and the Egypt–Israel peace treaty. In 1980, Prime Minister Menachem Begin offered Arens the post of Minister of Defense, but he turned it down due to his disagreement over the terms of the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty. Arens did not oppose peace with Egypt, but was opposed to certain aspects of the treaty, and thus did not want to have to oversee Israel's evacuation from the Sinai.[4]
He was re-elected again in
After Likud lost the
Arens questioned the wisdom of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Israeli procurement, given the neglected state of Israeli ground forces.[9] In an article for Fathom Journal, Arens stated that he was a critic of unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza, accusing its proponents of suffering from "unilateral withdrawal syndrome".[10]
Personal life
While living in the United States, Arens married Muriel F. Eisenberg from New York City, and she moved to Israel with him. The couple had four children, two boys and two girls: Yigal, Aliza, Raanan, and Ruth.[4] Arens died on 7 January 2019 at the age of 93.[11][12] Streets in Ramla, Herzliya and Beit Shemesh are named after him.
Published works
- Optimum staging of cruising aircraft. Haifa: Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautical Engineering, 1959.
- Some requirements for the efficient attainment of range by air-borne vehicles. Haifa: Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautical Engineering, 1959.
- A hypersonic ramjet using a normal detonation wave. Jerusalem: Weizmann Science Press of Israel, 1960.
- Moshe Arens, Statesman and Scientist Speaks Out. (With Merill Simon) New York: Dean Books, 1988.
- Broken covenant: American foreign policy and the crisis between the U.S. and Israel. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
- Flags Over the Warsaw Ghetto: The Untold Story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Jerusalem: Gefen, 2011.
- In Defense of Israel: A Memoir of a Political Life. Washington DC: Brookings, 2018.
Awards and recognition
In 1971, Arens won the Israel Defense Prize. In 2016, Nefesh B'Nefesh awarded him the Bonei Zion Prize.[13]
References
- ^ "Ministers by Ministry". Knesset. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
- New York Times
- ^ Moshe Arens: Particulars Knesset website
- ^ a b c Shipler, David K.; Times, Special To the New York (12 February 1982). "MAN IN THE NEWS; ISRAELI HAWK IS NEW ENVOY". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ a b "Haaretz writers". Haaretz. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
- ^ "מעריב | עמוד 15 | 23 פברואר 1968 | אוסף העיתונות | הספרייה הלאומית". www.nli.org.il.
- ^ See Dariusz Libionka & Laurence Weinbaum, "Review of Flags over the Warsaw Ghetto" Jewish Political Studies Review 23: 3-4 (Fall 2011) http://jcpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Libionka-Weinbaum.pdf
- ^ Moshe Arens, Former Israeli Defense Minister and Liberal Likud Veteran, Dies at 93, Haaretz
- ^ Ginsburg, Mitch (29 October 2014). "Israel to buy second squadron of stealth F-35 jets". www.timesofisrael.com. The Times of Israel. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
- ^ "Head to head: Moshe Arens and Ami Ayalon discuss coordinated unilateralism". Retrieved 11 July 2016.
- ^ Richman, Jackson (9 January 2019). "Tributes Pour in Following Death of Moshe Arens, 93–Israel's Former Defense Minister". The Jewish Voice.
- ^ Aderet, Ofer (7 January 2019). "Moshe Arens, Former Israeli Defense Minister and Liberal Likud Veteran, Dies at 93". Haaretz. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
- ^ "6 immigrants to Israel awarded 'Bonei Zion' prize". www.timesofisrael.com.
Further reading
- Moshe Arens, statesman and scientist, speaks out, Merrill Simon,with a foreword by Daniel K. Inouye ; edited by Judith Featherman. Middle Island, N.Y.: Dean Books, 1988.
External links
- Moshe Arens on the Knesset website
- Charlie Rose – Moshe Arens
- Moshe Arens Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Appearances on C-SPAN